11 Bible Verses about Bigotry

"I am a Jew, born in Tarsus in Cilicia but raised in this city and educated at the feet of Gamaliel in the strict ways of our ancestral Law. I am as zealous for God as all of you are today. I persecuted this Way, even executing people, and kept tying up both men and women and putting them in prison,

Meanwhile, still spewing death threats against the Lord's disciples, Saul went to the high priest. He asked him for letters to take with him to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any men or women belonging to the Way, he might bring them in chains to Jerusalem. As Saul traveled along and was approaching Damascus, a light from heaven suddenly flashed around him. read more.
He dropped to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul! Why are you persecuting me?" He asked, "Who are you, Lord?"

Indeed, I myself thought it my duty to take extreme measures against the name of Jesus from Nazareth.

For you have heard about my earlier life in Judaism how I kept violently persecuting God's church and was trying to destroy it. I advanced in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries, because I was far more zealous for the traditions of my ancestors.

As for my zeal, I was a persecutor of the church. As far as righteousness in the Law is concerned, I was blameless.

Then some little children were brought to him so that he might lay his hands on them and pray. But the disciples rebuked those who brought them.

Some people were bringing little children to Jesus to have him touch them. But the disciples rebuked those who brought them.

Now some people were even bringing their infants to Jesus to have him touch them. But when the disciples saw this, they sternly told the people not to do that.

Then the circumcised believers who had come with Peter were amazed that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the gentiles, too,

But when Peter went up to Jerusalem, those who emphasized circumcision disagreed with him. They said, "You went to uncircumcised men and ate with them!"

When they heard about it, they praised God and told him, "You see, brother, how many tens of thousands of believers there are among the Jews, and all of them are zealous for the Law. But they have been told about you that you teach all the Jews living among the gentiles to forsake the Law of Moses, and that you tell them not to circumcise their children or observe the customs. What is to be done? They will certainly hear that you have come. read more.
So do what we tell you. We have four men who are under a vow. Take these men, go through the purification ceremony with them, and pay their expenses to shave their heads. Then everyone will know that there is nothing in what they have been told about you, but that you are carefully observing and keeping the Law. As for the gentiles who have become believers, we have sent a letter with our decision that they should keep away from food that has been sacrificed to idols, from blood, from anything strangled, and from sexual immorality."

Then some men came down from Judea and started to teach the brothers, "Unless you are circumcised according to the Law of Moses, you can't be saved." Paul and Barnabas had quite a dispute and argument with them. So Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem to confer with the apostles and elders about this question. They were sent on their way by the church, and as they were going through Phoenicia and Samaria they told of the conversion of the gentiles and brought great joy to all the brothers. read more.
When they arrived in Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church, the apostles, and the elders, and they reported everything that God had done through them. But some believers from the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, "The gentiles must be circumcised and ordered to keep the Law of Moses." So the apostles and the elders met to look into this claim. After a lengthy debate, Peter stood up and told them, "Brothers, you know that in the early days, God chose me to be the one among you through whom the gentiles would hear the message of the gospel and believe. God, who knows everyone's heart, showed them he approved by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as he did to us. He made no distinction between them and us, because of their faith-cleansed hearts. So why do you test God by putting on the disciples' neck a yoke that neither our ancestors nor we could carry?

Greetings. We have heard that some men, coming from us without instructions from us, have said things to trouble you and have unsettled you.

But not even Titus, who was with me, was forced to be circumcised, even though he was a Greek. However, false brothers were secretly brought in. They slipped in to spy on the freedom we have in the Messiah Jesus so that they might enslave us. But we did not give in to them for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might always remain with you.

What advantage, then, does the Jew have, or what value is there in circumcision? There are all kinds of advantages! First of all, the Jews have been entrusted with the utterances of God. What if some of the Jews were unfaithful? Their unfaithfulness cannot cancel God's faithfulness, can it? read more.
Of course not! God is true, even if everyone else is a liar. As it is written, "You are right when you speak, and win your case when you go into court." But if our unrighteousness serves to confirm God's righteousness, what can we say? God is not unrighteous when he vents his wrath on us, is he? (I am talking in human terms.) Of course not! Otherwise, how could God judge the world? For if through my falsehood God's truthfulness glorifies him even more, why am I still being condemned as a sinner? Or can we say as some people slander us by claiming that we say "Let's do evil that good may result"? They deserve to be condemned! What, then, does this mean? Are we Jews any better off? Not at all! For we have already accused everyone, both Jews and Greeks, of being under the power of sin. As it is written, "Not even one person is righteous. No one understands. No one searches for God. All have turned away. They have become completely worthless. No one shows kindness, not even one person! Their throats are open graves. With their tongues they deceive. The venom of poisonous snakes is under their lips. Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness. They run swiftly to shed blood. Ruin and misery characterize their lives. They have not learned the path to peace. They don't fear God. Now we know that whatever the Law says applies to those who are under the Law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. Therefore, God will not justify any human being by means of the actions prescribed by the Law, for through the Law comes the full knowledge of sin. But now, apart from the Law, God's righteousness is revealed and is attested by the Law and the Prophets God's righteousness through the faithfulness of Jesus the Messiah for all who believe. For there is no distinction among people, since all have sinned and continue to fall short of God's glory.

What, then, are we to say about Abraham, our human ancestor? For if Abraham was justified by actions, he would have had something to boast about though not before God. For what does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness." read more.
Now to someone who works, wages are not considered a gift but an obligation. However, to someone who does not work, but simply believes in the one who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness. Likewise, David also speaks of the blessedness of the person whom God regards as righteous apart from actions: "How blessed are those whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered! How blessed is the person whose sins the Lord will never charge against him!" Now does this blessedness come to the circumcised alone, or also to the uncircumcised? For we say, "Abraham's faith was credited to him as righteousness." Under what circumstances was it credited? Was he circumcised or uncircumcised? He had not yet been circumcised, but was uncircumcised. Afterward he received the mark of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. Therefore, he is the ancestor of all who believe while uncircumcised, in order that righteousness may be credited to them. He is also the ancestor of the circumcised those who are not only circumcised, but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised. For the promise that he would inherit the world did not come to Abraham or to his descendants through the Law, but through the righteousness produced by faith. For if those who were given the Law are the heirs, then faith is useless and the promise is worthless, for the Law produces wrath. Now where there is no Law, neither can there be any violation of it. Therefore, the promise is based on faith, so that it may be a matter of grace and may be guaranteed for all of Abraham's descendants not only for those who were given the Law, but also for those who share the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all.

Now the words "it was credited to him" were written not only for him but also for us. Our faith will be regarded in the same way, if we believe in the one who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. He was sentenced to death because of our sins and raised to life to justify us.

John told Jesus, "Teacher, we saw someone driving out demons in your name. We tried to stop him, because he wasn't a follower like us." But Jesus said, "Don't stop him, because no one who works a miracle in my name can slander me soon afterwards. Whoever is not against us is for us.

John said, "Master, we saw someone driving out demons in your name. We tried to stop him, because he wasn't a follower like us." Jesus told him, "Don't stop him! Because whoever is not against you is for you."

Now the Pharisee who had invited Jesus saw this and told himself, "If this man were a prophet, he would have known who is touching him and what kind of woman she is. She's a sinner!"

But the Pharisees and the scribes kept complaining, "This man welcomes sinners and eats with them."

When Jesus came to the tree, he looked up and said, "Zacchaeus, hurry and come down! I must stay at your house today." Zacchaeus came down quickly and was glad to welcome him into his home. But all the people who saw this began to complain: "Jesus is going to be the guest of a notorious sinner!"

yelling, "Men of Israel, help! This is the man who teaches everyone everywhere to turn against our people, the Law, and this place. More than that, he has even brought Greeks into the Temple and desecrated this Holy Place." For they had earlier seen Trophimus the Ephesian in the city with him and assumed that Paul had taken him into the Temple.

Up to this point they listened to him, but then they began to shout, "Away with such a fellow from the earth! He's not fit to go on living!"

At this, they turned on him in fury and said, "You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses! We know that God has spoken to Moses, but we do not know where this fellow comes from."

They asked him, "You were born a sinner and you are trying to instruct us?" And they threw him out.

A young man ran and reported to Moses, "Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp!" In response, Nun's son Joshua, Moses' attendant and one of his choice men, exclaimed, "My master Moses! Stop them!" "Are you jealous on account of me?" Moses asked in reply. "I wish all of the LORD's people were prophets and that the LORD would put his spirit upon them!"

Because John didn't come eating or drinking, yet people say, "He has a demon!' The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, "Look, a glutton and a drunk, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!' Absolved from every act of sin, is wisdom by her kith and kin."

The Pharisee was surprised to see that he didn't first wash before the meal. But the Lord told him, "Now you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but on the inside you are full of greed and evil.

who killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets, who have persecuted us, and who please neither God nor any group of people, as they try to keep us from telling the gentiles how they can be saved. As a result, they are constantly adding to the number of sins they have committed. However, wrath has overtaken them at last!

When the days grew closer for Jesus to be taken up to heaven, he was determined to continue his journey to Jerusalem. So he sent messengers on ahead of him. On their way they went into a Samaritan village to get things ready for him. But the people would not welcome him, because he was determined to go to Jerusalem. read more.
When his disciples James and John observed this rejection, they asked, "Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?" But he turned and rebuked them, and they all went on to another village.

So he sent messengers on ahead of him. On their way they went into a Samaritan village to get things ready for him. But the people would not welcome him, because he was determined to go to Jerusalem.

The Samaritan woman asked him, "How can you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?" Because Jews do not have anything to do with Samaritans.

At this point his disciples arrived, and they were astonished that he was talking to a woman. Yet no one said, "What do you want from her?" or, "Why are you talking to her?"

For I can testify on their behalf that they have a zeal for God, but it is not in keeping with full knowledge. For they are ignorant of the righteousness that comes from God while they try to establish their own, and they have not submitted to God's means to attain righteousness.

So the Jewish leaders were trying all the harder to kill him, because he was not only breaking the Sabbath but was also calling God his own Father, thereby making himself equal to God.

All the people in the synagogue became furious when they heard this.